Sony plots £4m Q1 ad spend

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Platform holder throws weight behind PS3 and PSP amidst falling sales and financial losses at parent

SCE UK has gone on the offensive following yesterday’s report of falling hardware sales, with a mammoth £4 million Q1 marketing assault.

The firm has set aside £2 million for next month’s triple-A FPS, Killzone 2, while the rest will be split between Sony’s Q1 PSP range, SingStar Queen and the re-promotion of last year’s Q4 titles LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2 and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift.

“We have two major campaigns running for the PS3,” SCEE marketing director Alan Duncan told MCV. “Firstly, Killzone 2’s February 27th launch will benefit from massive broadcast support across TV and cinema, along with a major online campaign, in-store support and a great deal of PR activity.

“Secondly, we have a campaign to re-promote our key titles from last year. We felt that the chaos of Q4 meant there was a good opportunity for re-promoting our games after Christmas. The creative for the campaign focuses on critical accolade and is aimed at gamers still catching up with all those titles that came out before Christmas.

“Additionally the launch of SingStar Queen on both PS2 and PS3 will be supported in March. And the PSP’s 2009 begins with activity to launch Resistance Retribution, Buzz! Brain of the UK and new colours added to the range.”

Killzone 2 is the PS3’s first major release of the year, and Duncan is confident it can match consumers’ sky high expectations: “In the case of Killzone 2 it has become clear to everyone who has seen it that we have a truly great product on our hands, something which is being reflected in the reviews.

“The great thing is it has lived up to that original billing and in doing so it brings a new energy to the most competitive genre. We need to prove that to as many people as possible, hence the massive campaign. Killzone 2 was always going to be an important title to show a glimpse of what PS3 has to offer as a mature platform.”



Source:mcvuk